GOP watch: How neighborly

"Sarah Palin's next-door neighbor sought out author Joe McGinniss as a tenant, McGinniss's son said," Politico's Ben Smith reports. "'A woman was renting her house and sought out the author because the Palins had crossed her (owed her money for renovations she had done at their request and never paid her for). So she knew McGinniss was writing the book and found him and offered him the house.'"

More: "The neighbor 'turned down more lucrative offers from the National Enquirer who wanted the house so they could 'stalk' and take pictures, etc... She said no,' he wrote. McGinniss, Jr. wrote that Palin is 'inspiring a lot of hate in people, appealing to so many of people's worst instincts. Sad and scary.'"

The DNC is needling House Republicans' "YouCut" and "America Speaking Out" initiatives. Emails DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan: "If YouCut is a sincere effort to protect taxpayer dollars and not just another Republican PR gimmick, we can think of no better way than to support the de-funding of 'America Speaking Out,' which not only runs afoul of ethics rules by using taxpayer money for partisan political purposes, but whose stated purpose of providing a legislative governing platform is proven a farce by the fact that it will only be produced a few weeks before the end of two year legislative term."